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“In all you speak, let truth and candor shine.”
Pope treats candor as part of good judgment: accurate criticism should also be spoken with integrity and fairness.
Source note: An Essay on Criticism, in the section describing the moral duties of a critic.
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“Lying is the sacrifice of honor to create a wrong impression.”
The sentence defines lying through intended deception: honor is traded away in order to make another person believe something the speaker knows is false.
Source note: The Power of Truth, opening chapter, Project Gutenberg #56020; Jordan contrasts truthful dealing with deliberately creating a false impression.
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“speak the speech of honor.”
Honorable speech is presented as expression that can be trusted because it does not depend on concealment, manipulation or a second hidden meaning.
Source note: The Simple Life, Chapter IV, “Simplicity of Speech,” Mary Louise Hendee translation, Project Gutenberg #23092; Wagner contrasts honorable speech with duplicity.
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“The liar is no whit better than the thief.”
Roosevelt argues that criticism loses moral legitimacy when it becomes false, making truthfulness a constraint on reform even when the target of criticism may deserve scrutiny.
Source note: The Man with the Muck-Rake, April 14, 1906. Roosevelt is discussing public criticism, journalism and slander; the surrounding speech simultaneously calls for relentless exposure of genuine wrongdoing when the attack is truthful.
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“A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth.”
Voice: Fictional character · Wise man of the village
Repeated deception damages credibility beyond the original lie: once listeners have learned to expect false alarms, even a later truthful warning can fail to restore belief in time.
Source note: Joseph Jacobs, The Fables of Aesop, “The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf,” Project Gutenberg #28. The wise man of the village gives the moral after the boy’s repeated false cries cause the villagers to ignore his real warning.
Source identified
“Truthfulness is at the foundation of all personal excellence.”
Personal excellence is grounded in truthfulness because habits of distortion eventually weaken trust, judgment, and the consistency between principle and action.
Source note: Character, Chapter I, “Influence of Character,” Project Gutenberg #2541. Smiles places the sentence in his discussion of veracity and reliableness, arguing that talent or genius cannot command durable confidence unless conduct can be trusted.